Conservation Banking | Analysis

Golden-cheeked warbler.

Photo credit: Steve Maslowski, USFWS

At the request of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), the Department of the Interior's Office of Policy Analysis (PPA) is conducting an analysis of the Service's conservation banking program to identify any institutional or other impediments to creating additional habitat conservation banks and develop potential options for encouraging the expanded use of conservation banking. Because of the nature and complexity of conservation banking, PPA developed a phased approach to analyzing the program and addressing a series of questions posed by the Service. The first steps in this analysis were a literature review and a survey of Service staff involved in endangered species issues. A second phase of the analysis will focus on the role of conservation bankers, project proponents, and non-governmental organizations, and will provide a broader perspective on issues affecting the conservation banking program.